Is it better for design to be bland or over-the-top?
Thursday, December 4th, 2008OK, admittedly that was a trick question … the correct answer is NEITHER
However, it’s not so obvious HOW to find that middle ground. You want to be memorable, and to provide unique perspectives, but you don’t want people to have seizures by looking at your designs.
First thing you need to do is identify who the design is going to be viewed by and then you have an idea of the style. If it’s going out to a young market, you have more leeway to present fun, vibrant visuals and maybe not as much content. For a corporate audience, you want to be conservative, clean and straight.
Regardless of the audience, there are some general guidelines to follow. Make it easy to find your main point within the first couple seconds of looking at the design. If your goal action statement doesn’t jump off the page or screen right away, then you will likely lose your viewer. Make sure to hook them right away.
Images are a great way to hook someone. Stock photography sites like iStock.com and Dreamstime.com are good to find high-quality images, but beware of oversaturation of images. Having reviewed the stock photography libraries, I see certain images over and over again in ads and billboards, and they jump out at me as “iStock images.” So find something striking but unique. And when you find it, don’t overdo it … don’t turn off people by having too much glare. It’s better to err on the side of conservative caution as opposed to the glare of overdesign.
Strong, concise action statements are especially good ways to hook your readers. Craft your statements and get rid of any unnecessary words. Too often, the message is lost among the clutter. So sweep up your sentences … as I say to my little ones, “clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere …” - the same goes for your content!!
So remember … identify your audience. Don’t overdo it. Use unique, strong images. And craft your action statement carefully.
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